Egypt is the biggest of the nations hit by recent protests in North Africa and the Middle East.
最近北非和中东数国发生抗议活动，其中埃及受创最为严重。

One of the causes of this spreading wave of popular dissatisfaction is a lack of economic progress.
此次民众不满的情绪浪潮般迅速蔓延，原因之一就是经济发展停滞不前。

Egypt is not a major oil exporter and its economy is not big enough to affect world economic growth.
埃及并非主要的石油输出国，其经济规模也不足以影响世界经济增长。

But important pipelines cross Egypt.
但是埃及境内有一些重要的输油管道。

And Egypt controls the Suez Canal.
此外他们还拥有苏伊士运河的控制权。

About 8% of world shipping passes through this link between Europe and Asia.
苏伊士运河是连接欧亚地区的纽带，全球约8%的货物航运都要借道苏伊士运河。

That includes two million barrels of oil each day, mainly to Europe.
其中就包括每日主要是运往欧洲的200万桶石油。

Many experts say they expect the canal to remain open.
许多专家表示他们预计苏伊士运河不会关闭。

Still, concerns about the Suez have pushed oil prices to their highest levels since 2008.
但出于对该运河状况的担忧，石油价格已经被推至2008年以来的最高位。

Fariborz Ghadar heads the Center for Global Business Studies at Penn State University.
宾夕法尼亚州立大学全球商业研究中心主任法里伯兹·加达。

He says poverty in Egypt remains high -- up to 40% in some areas.
他表示，埃及的贫困率仍然很高，一些地区高达40%。

Yet Egypt is not alone.
而埃及并非个例。

Foreign investors worry about corruption, mismanagement and security problems across North Africa and the Middle East.
外国投资者为北非和中东地区的管理不善、腐败和安全问题感到担忧。

Every year millions of young people enter the job market.
每年都有数百万年轻人进入就业市场。

Populations are young and fast growing.
人口年轻化，且在迅速增长。

In Egypt, the economy grew about 5% last year -- too little growth to create enough jobs.
去年埃及经济增长率约为5%，对创造足够岗位而言实在增长得太少。

Fariborz Ghadar says the United States in a good year creates fewer than two million jobs.
法里伯兹·加达称就算在一个好年份美国新提供的岗位也不足200万个。

"Europe and the US together generate three million jobs.
欧洲和美国加起来创造了300万个工作岗位。

[The] Middle East alone to keep their youth employed has to generate six, seven, eight million jobs.
而要想保证他们的年轻人就业，单是中东就得提供六七甚至八百万个岗位。

So they have to produce two or three times as many jobs as the total US and total European economies."
因此他们创造的岗位数量得是美国和欧洲所有经济体加起来的两三倍。

Fariborz Ghadar says protests could spread to bigger economies.
法里伯兹·加达表示，抗议活动可能会扩散到一些较大的经济体。

"So the mismanagement of the Iranian economy could in fact see a backlash of the Iranian population because their food prices are going up too.
伊朗经济管理不善由于他们的食品价格在上升，实际上会激发伊朗民众的强烈反对。

Their inflation is going up, too."
他们的通胀率也在上升。

The World Bank has praised Egypt for cutting barriers to trade.
世界银行曾对埃及削减贸易壁垒表示赞扬。

But economist Deborah Hewitt at the College of William & Mary in Virginia says private foreign investment remains weak.
但弗吉尼亚州威廉玛丽学院的经济学家黛博拉·休伊特表示，埃及的外国私人投资仍较薄弱。

She says those investments have grown quickly from almost nothing eight years ago.
她称以前埃及几乎没有任何外国私人投资，自8年前埃及开始引进外国私人投资以来这部分投资项目发展迅速。

But they are still not enough to lift the economy.
但仍不足以提振埃及经济。

Professor Hewitt says Egypt could look to reforms in Morocco that have appealed to investors.
休伊特教授表示，埃及可以借鉴摩洛哥改革的经验，学习怎样吸引投资者。

Morocco has strengthened its education system and invested in roads, ports and electric power.
摩洛哥在改革中加强教育系统建设，对道路、港口和电力设备进行投资。

She says investments like these not only put people to work.
休伊特称诸如此类的投资不仅为民众提供了就业岗位。

They also create the basis for future economic -- and political -- development.
还为未来的经济政治发展打下了基础。

"With economic growth and expansion comes the desire for more political freedom.
黛博拉·休伊特说：随着经济的蓬勃发展，人们会要求更多的政治自由。

And the two go hand in hand.
这两者是齐头并进。

They feed on each other."
他们是互相依存的。